Legislators are rushing to vote on Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” but Republicans in the House aren’t too concerned about Elon Musk’s most pressing threats.
Even if he now opposes Trump’s legislative agenda, Musk was formerly head of DOGE, the president’s department. Until Republicans in the Senate started making moves to approve the measure earlier this week, he said nothing about it.
“We don’t take threats lightly up here,” Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) told AWN Digital. “And, you know, Elon, we appreciate all the work he did with DOGE — and he did some fine work, some great work — but at the same time, this is something we’ve got to do.”
The national debt is already enormous, at $37 trillion, and Musk has gone back to criticizing Republicans for backing the big bill, which would add another $3.3 trillion to that amount. He even threatened to support Republican primary opponents to any lawmaker who voted in favor of the measure.
After donating millions to Trump’s campaign last year, this wouldn’t be Musk’s first foray into politics.
After what seems like an eternity of postponements, discussions, and the lowest chamber’s record-breaking length of open floor time, the Republicans are finally getting ready to vote. Not everyone is concerned by Musk’s warnings, either.
The Republican from Michigan, Rep. Tim Walberg, told AWN Digital that he was determined to do the best that “we could do, which is, frankly, better than what Elon Musk did.”
He dismissed Elon Musk as unimportant. That DOE identified certain positive aspects of this administration that required improvement is something I am aware of. The $2 trillion that Elon had promised to uncover never materialized.
Also, Musk was quite critical of the Senate’s amendments, which he said would add trillions to the national debt.
Republican North Carolina Representative Brad Knott pointed out that the measure would eliminate over $1.5 trillion to help pay for the extension or permanent extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that President Trump signed into law.
He spoke to AWN Digital about his admiration for Mr. Musk’s motivation. “I appreciate his focus on debt reduction, and I hope he’ll take a step back and realize that we’re still all on the same team here.”
House fiscal hawks were irritated by the Senate’s changes, which included Medicaid reform and a scaling back of green energy subsidies from former president Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, among other cost-driving issues. However, Republican leadership in the House is optimistic that the bill will pass.
